The Madness of Alice
by IAspireToSleep
Summary: Everyone knows Wonderland is dangerous. Perhaps it is nothing more than lovely Alice's imagination. Or perhaps it only exists through the eyes of Alice. Nothing is as it seems.


_...How did I get here? How, who?...I don't...know..._

Panting, Alice raced away from the meadow towards the woods, whimpering as the Queen's guards bore down on her. Racing through the brush and around traps the Queen devised, Alice bolted, putting distance between herself and the slow, bulky guards that pursued her. Sliding down the riverbank into the cold, muddy stream, Alice scrambled along, pulling at tree roots and tripping over rocks, and in her desperation, she managed to pull herself out of the freezing water and struggle towards the deepest part of the woods. But the water had numbed her feet and unable to avoid one of the upraised tree roots, Alice tripped and rolled away from the stream towards one of the larger trees lining the bank. Pulling herself close to the trunk, Alice tried to slow her breathing and focus on how she got into such a mess.

 _...I have to...remember..._

"Ohhh! I'm late, I'm late!"

Groggily, Alice raised her head. "Hmm?" Her eyes widened as she saw a white rabbit race across part of the meadow she often played in. The rabbit raced past her screaming, "LAAAATTEEE!" Out of curiosity, Alice pushed herself up and started running after the panicked rabbit. The rabbit jumped down a hole screeching his favorite word, "LAAaaaAATTeEEE!" as he fled down the hole. Alice flew down after him to...S

O

M

E

W

H

E

R

E

With a gasp, Alice woke up from her...what was it? Dream? Frantically, Alice pushed herself up from the slump she fell asleep in. Looking around, she searched for any signs that the guards were closing in.

Not finding any, Alice slowly stood up to come face-to-face with a grinning cat. Laughing, it bounced away from her and backed into the deepest part of the forest completely fading away except for his sly grin. Alice started with a shock. After checking for guards, she followed the cat, slinking into deeper shadows.

Making her way even deeper into the woods following the cat, she found herself in front of an oddly shaped tree entwined around a crumbling statue. Gaping in awe, Alice's eyes swept over the scene before finding the cat perched upon the top of the twisted tree. Grinning his creepy smile, the cat opened his mouth letting a hiss trail out, before breaking into peals of feral laughter "WooOonDderrrlaaAaaAnnd."

Hearing the name of that cursed land, Alice fell to her knees, screaming, as she held her head as the memories flooded her mind, like water floods after being pent up behind a dam. The cat-Cheshire…yes. Cheshire...screeching with pleasure at her pain taunted Alice as she bolted from the tree, heading through the woods, crashing through the underbrush, no longer caring if the guards heard her. Panicked and weary, Alice ran past the trees, over the stream and finally broke through the woods into the meadow.

It was familiar; the meadow. Where had she seen it before? Ah, yes. It was where she played, right? Where she played ...where the rabbit played… no, that's not quite…right. Right?

 _...Safe...I'll be safe here... The meadow...my...my meadow...safe..._

Alice collapsed gratefully into the whispering grass, tears mixing with the dew on the grass stems. A crunching noise scattered her frenzied thoughts. Whipping up her head, Alice came face-to-face with one of the Queen's guards. He said something. But Alice couldn't hear him. Her blood was pounding in her ears and everything had a fishbowl effect. Vaguely aware of more guards emerging around her, Alice stood up shakily. She could do this...she could escape. She escaped from a castle of guards, from the garden, from the tea party... hell, she escaped from the QUEEN. This. This would be...easy. Alice, lost in her own madness, looked up at the guard closest to her, grinned, and lunged for him.

 **CRACK**

\- Later -

"Tonight, on the 12'o'clock news, we have reports that the famed serial killer, Alice Kingsleigh, who broke out of the mental asylum was under a drug that induced hallucinations; WonderLand. A week ago, Kingsleigh was sighted near her hometown leaving a warehouse that housed the Gang of Hearts. Currently, their leader, the Queen of Hearts, is still missing. Kingsleigh has been pursued by the police and the chase is still hot. If anyone sees Kingsleigh, they should stay away and call the police as soon as possible and-hold on. This just came in. The police have closed in Kingsleigh, but after Kingsleigh tried to attack on of the officers, the police had no choice but to react. Alice Kingsleigh is dead. I repeat. Alice Kingsleigh is dead. Back to you, Carol.


End file.
